On-Field Capers à la Italiana: What Connects Three Championship Derbies of Shame (videos)

There’s a wise saying in Greek: “A repeated coincidence ceases to be a coincidence”.

In this case, in three football matches utterly crucial to determine the Greek Super League title, we have three poor officiating performances by referees from the same country: Italy.

Therefore, this ceases being merely a… geographical coincidence when the head of refereeing at UEFA is also an Italian, the well-known Roberto Rosetti, who supposedly even has a say in appointing top referees at the Hellenic Football Association (HFA) —who, in turn, appoint Italian referees for Greek Super League derbies.

Back in October 2023 at the Karaiskakis Stadium, the infamous “Juankar match” takes place, when a fool in the stands throws a firecracker near the edge pitch and Panathinaikos player Juankar declares himself injured, even though other teammates between him and the firecracker suffered nothing at all! The incident occurred in the 50th minute of the Olympiacos–Panathinaikos derby with the score at 1–1.

Referee Fabio Maresca from Naples initially asked the Panathinaikos side, whose players had left the pitch of their own accord and before any temporary suspension was ordered, to return to the field. He then called the game physician and persistently asked whether the player was “fit to play,” whether he was able to return to the match. However, the doctor did not provide a clear answer, as he was under enormous pressure and had also been confronted by the… supposedly injured Juankar.

The Italian referee concluded the match report by stating that the match was abandoned due to the prolonged delay in restarting. What is blameworthy for Maresca—and what ultimately decided the case in a sports court, turning the 1–1 draw into a default loss for home side Olympiacos—is an additional report compiled by Maresca, as requested by a Super League judge, in which he arbitrarily wrote about the “seriousness of injury,” something he had never mentioned in the original match report.

Another negative impression for public opinion was Maresca’s correspondence with HFF and then shadowy chief referee Stavros Mandalos, which wasn’t conducted through the Italian Federation, as it should have been, but directly via a yahoo.it email account — meaning anyone could have signed as “Maresca” without actually being the Italian referee.

Even this shows the level of… coordination with a HFF administration hostile to Olympiacos and an Italian referee who decided the match with that report—and to a large extent, that season’s championship.

On April 23, 2024, during an Olympiacos–AEK match at Karaiskakis, Italian referee Davide Massa coldly “executes” the home side with three officiating errors that set the stadium ablaze and provoked the anger of the home side’s fans and club officials. In the 13th minute, AEK defender Vida pushes Makabu in the box and Massa refuses an obvious penalty. In the 38th minute, AEK midfielder Damian Szymański makes one of the most violent tackles seen in any Greek stadiums on Mathieu Valbuena—a textbook red-card offense—but instead the referee motions to “play on,” provoking justified outrage from the home side.

To complete one of the most one-sided refereeing performances in championship history, Massa does not call a crystal-clear offensive foul against AEK forward Nordin Amrabat, who throws his opponent to the ground with a wrestling-style move before providing the assist to Petros Mandalos for the latter’s goal, to make the score 1–3. Olympiacos players after the takedown practically stopped defending, expecting Massa’s whistle! That match decided the championship of that season!

And we now come to Sunday’s match at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki, with Simone Sozza, in one of the most hostile officiating performances in a derby played by Olympiacos.

Sozza, with referee Luca Pairetto on VAR, managed to award a goal that was a blatant offside, from which PAOK made it 1–0. In fact, the referee did not even conduct an on-field review. Let’s recall that just a few days earlier, an identical goal by Olympiacos in the derby against AEK at the Karaiskakis Stadium was disallowed for offside.

Two identical instances where the goalkeeper is impeded, two diametrically opposite decisions that distort the playoff standings and ultimately the championship; in a play that begins with an incorrect corner given when it should have been a goal kick.

Before PAOK’s 3–1, referee Sozza fails to see an obvious foul by PAOK forward Zivković on Olympiacos’ Kostinia, and Pairetto also does not call him for an on-field review.

Equally egregious is the incident where PAOK defender Baba targets Kostinia’s ankle at the edge of PAOK’s box and where not even a foul is given, even though Kostinia is injured. A few minutes later, PAOK forward Alexander Jeremejeff steps on keeper Tzolakis’ ankle with his cleats, causing the Olympiacos goalkeeper to collapse on the field for several minutes in pain, yet Sozza does not even call a foul.

Another Italian in a Greek Super League derby, another provocative and “surgically” poor performance that likely decided a championship. Yet let’s repeat: a repeated coincidence ceases to be a coincidence… Does Mr. Rosetti have any comment on this repeated pattern of behavior?